Snow fears fuel food group grab

That was the gist of a smug e-mail from an old friend wintering in Pompano Beach.

I e-mailed back, calling him a smart aleck (in saltier language of course), reporting that it was 20 degrees in snow covered Titusville, NJ and I hope he gets skunked on his next fishing trip.

As the semi-hysterical TV weather heads blathered apocalyptic predictions of this winter’s most significant snowfall, I forecast the accompanying video footage to go with the verbal commentary to my wife, as she did her well-practiced eye roll.

“They’re gonna show dump trucks being loaded with sand or salt, people lugging snow shovels out of hardware stores and shove microphones into the faces of ambushed supermarket shoppers loading up on milk, bread and eggs.”

Sure enough, the local news station did just that.

And so it goes every snowstorm. You’d think a program director would come up with something original, like a guy rolling a cart laden with two cases of beer and a gallon of bourbon out of the liquor store or fixing to roast a pig in his back yard BBQ pit.

Who needs bread and milk?

The snow shovel thing makes me nuts. Does anybody who has lived in the Northeast for at least one winter not own a snow shovel?

I can see where deranged people fleeing the Sunny South, because they no doubt yearn for five months of wretched winter, needing to buy one.

And President Trump might want to reconsider his in-Limbo immigration ban on folks from places were sand is more prevalent than snow.

Meanwhile, I confess I did make some preparations in that I put fresh gasoline and oil in the 25-year-old snow blower that went unused last winter. It fired right up.

I also filled up the generator due to predictions of high winds and a wet snow; the perfect storm for downed power lines. The power, however, didn’t fail, a small miracle given our electric company’s dismal record of storm outages.

But this minor-league storm didn’t live up to the hype of a possible foot of snow in my neck of the woods. It barely reached five inches and petered out by 10 a.m. last Thursday morning.

It was more of a nuisance than anything else.

However, people flocked to the market, judging by its full parking lot as I passed.

According to a story in “The Atlantic Daily,” milk, bread and eggs are the “Holy Trinity” of winter storm panic shopping.

What, people suddenly have a craving for pancakes or French Toast in a snow storm?

One psychologist quoted says that stocking up may give a person a sense of “control” in a situation (weather) that can’t be controlled.

However, I suggest that the average person probably has enough grub in the pantry, fridge, freezer, etc. to last at least a month. Perishables, such as milk and eggs of course, are vulnerable to spoilage in power failures.

But do you consume eggs every day? Doubtful. Milk and bread perhaps, depending on your culinary cravings.

Bare bread shelves are a common TV picture when potentially life threatening weather approaches, such as a Hurricane Sandy.

I’ve yet to see footage of supermarket fruit bins plucked clean.

A proper diet isn’t a priority for panic shoppers.

Thus, you might as well grab a bottle of real maple syrup to go with the pancake fixin’s.